Archive for March, 2016

Though I’ve taken a course in C++ and Java programming, I still wonder WTF! When I say this I often think of those companies (Yes, even the open source companies) are thinking when they are trying to merge their desktop/laptop operating systems with their phone operating systems. Now, I agree it would make things simpler in development, but….

It’s obvious that some people often don’t think the same as you or I or even the corporate information technologists. I wonder in their infinite wisdom as they so like to think, have they taken the time out to look at the BIG picture. I’d say they haven’t. The developers would say they have.

Let’s take the major mistake that Microsoft made in this area and what is happening in the open source community. When Microsoft came out with Windows 8, it was advertised as the next major step in operating systems. Those of us that were smart and those in the corporate world bowed out on Windows 8 and even Windows 8.1. There were more than a few reasons behind this.

First the corporate view of this. Their reasoning was three fold. First and foremost was the cost of NEW hardware. Before I began typing this I took a look at Newegg. They are one of many on line retailers of both software and hardware. I found the same thing that the corporations found. The cost of any touch screen exceeds the cost of a REGULAR flat panel computer monitor by anywhere from $150 US to well over triple the cost. That alone would be a huge outlay for corporations even with their volume purchase discounts let along people like you and me. Secondly, let’s look at the cost of retraining personnel in the corporate world. It’s not cheap. Training costs exceed the cost of hardware by far. Retraining for a “touch” operating system would have been exceptionally costly. And there is yet a third reason behind the corporations not moving to a “touch” operating system. The last and probably the most damning of these was the cost of the operating system itself. Microsoft change the licensing on their operating system so it would be even more costly for the corporate world than it was before. Corporations were having NONE of this.

All of these were valid reasons for not just the corporations to pass on Windows 8 and 8.1 but have second thoughts about Microsoft’s half step backwards for Windows 10. It appears Microsoft still hasn’t quite given up on the idea of merging operating systems between phone and desktop/laptop. And it appears that Microsoft is NOT the only one. Canonical (the producers of Ubuntu) are attempting the same thing that Microsoft is doing but in the open source arena. And they are not the only ones either. Even Apple is working on the same aspects (Though, I think that they stand a better chance at making it work).

As I see it, there is NO WAY that a “touch” screen operating system will ever become as productive as a desktop/laptop operating system. First of all, you have to have a very stable base for “touch” to work on anything above perhaps a ten inch screen. Even a ten inch screen is too large in some cases. Then there is the cost of maintenance of those touch screens not just the initial cost of them. Touch screens have to be cleaned with more regularity just to SEE what you’re looking at without eye strain. Yes, the oil that comes from your skin makes a mess of any flat panel. It also makes the eyes strain to see through that mess from all the touching. Do you really want to have to wipe off a beautiful 17 inch or above touch screen monitor just to see what you’re doing in the process of doing it? I certainly don’t.

Perhaps in another generation or two touch will be the rage of the desktop/laptops. However, I like many others who are use to the “old school” methods of computing more than likely won’t be around unless someone finds the fountain of youth. Even then, I don’t think I want to live that long anyway. This entire thing makes me reminisce a scene from one of the original Star Trek movies where Scotty is addressing an “old school” computer with a keyboard like he would the computers on the Enterprise. Quite comical if you ask me.